English Learning Area

Overview
Lower school English courses are Year length courses addressing specific outcomes each term. The outcomes relate to understandings and skills that students are expected to apply to language in general including that:

• Language is used according to context;
• Language has an important effect on the ways in which we view ourselves and the world in which we live;
• The conventions of Standard Australian English are used with understanding and critical awareness;
• There are a variety of processes and strategies to select from which are appropriate for a range of purposes and contexts.

Teachers plan learning programmes, which provide opportunities for development, assisting and observing progress of all students.  These approaches recognise that student progress towards one outcome is dependent on progress towards others.

Students will study specific texts to achieve the desired outcomes of English.  Students will also learn to create texts of their own and to engage with texts produced by other people.

In the English Learning Area, students develop functional and critical literacy skills. They learn to control and understand the conventions of Standard Australian English valued and rewarded by society and to reflect on and critically analyse their own use of language and the language of others.

The course is designed to recognise, accept, value and build on students’ existing language competence, and extend the range of language available to students.